The Future For Nature Award Wouldn’t it be great to help preserve the snow leopard, contribute to the survival of the leatherback turtle or provide the sparrow hawk with a future? Young biologists dream of earning their keep with missions such as these. Three winners of the Future For Nature (FFN)-award did precisely that. They will visit Wageningen this Saturday.
The three young nature conservationists are Rinzin Phunjok Lama (Nepal), Callie Annette Veelenturf (USA) and Hana Weaver (USA). They will receive the Future For Nature award at Burgers’ Zoo, Arnhem, on Friday. The award comes with a sum of fifty thousand euros each. The day after the award ceremony, the three will visit Wageningen Campus for the Future For Nature Academy Day, an event (co)initiated by Teacher of the Year Ignas Heitkönig.
Blown away
Heitkönig, assistant professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, attended the award ceremony for the first time ten years ago. ‘I was blown away. It was great. The initiatives, the winners’ stories. Young people from all over the world going against the stream to achieve something amazing for nature conservation. It always moves me to tears. I immediately thought of how awesome this would be for my students.’
We want the students to literally get in touch with the award winners
Ignas Heitkönig,assistant professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Heitkönig met the current FFN director, Rascha Nuijten, at the awards a year ago. Nuijten was a PhD candidate at the NIOO research institute at the time. ‘We hit it off within ten seconds and started brainstorming on how we could get students involved in this event.’ The result was the FFN-Academy, a network of students and (recent) graduates that organises various events on nature conservation.
Since 2017, the FFN Academy Day has taken place the day after the award ceremony. Wageningen will host the event for the third time this Saturday. The event aims to inspire, says Heitkönig. ‘We want the students to literally get in touch with the award winners. Shake hands, discuss, and become moved by their stories. This regularly leads to new partnerships in which the students work for the award winners.’
A former winner, for example, conducted research in Brazil on roadkill. ‘She investigated possible protection measures. A Wageningen student, Yelle Vosteen, analysed the research data to determine what animals are vulnerable on which roads and how policies can be designed to, for example, change the shape of roads.’
Meet & Greet
FFN Academy has branches in Utrecht, Velp, Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Zwolle, Leiden, Almere and Wageningen. Heitkönig expects some 150 students from all over the Netherlands to make their way to the campus. In addition to a meet & greet with the FFN award winners, the programme includes various workshops and lectures. Registration for this Saturday’s programme is open here.
